The Great Inheritance/Estate Tax Robbery

So much is going in Washington, D.C. as the year comes to a close that it is sometimes difficult to keep all the topics clear in one's mind. The outgoing Democratic losers are putting on quite a show for their base, working through December, trying to get the jump on the incoming newly elected Republican majority. 

Besides appearing disturbed over the president's compromise with the GOP in the Senate, they are raising a variety of issues that are of great importance to all.  As Americans go about their busy preparations for Christmas, preparing their homes, baking, balancing their budgets, and Christmas shopping, they often have little time to be aware of what is happening in Congress.
 
It is of maximum importance for us not to loose track of the Washington shenanigans, because if allowed to get their way, the Democrats who feel so entitled to control us and our money will do just that.

At issue presently is the negotiation of the Inheritance or Estate Tax. Do Democrats all actually believe as  does Congressman Weiner of New York that it doesn't matter what happens to your money, because you will be dead?  We're here to tell you folks that it matters a great deal to us, and we don't fall into that category of a highly taxable estate. 

Presently the Inheritance Tax plan that is proposed exempts estates under $5 million from the inheritance tax, and the top rate would be 35%. If the Bush Tax Cuts are not extended, the law with the $1million exemption and the 55% top rate would come into effect in 2011. 
With the compromise deal between the GOP and the President, only 0.14 %, approximately 3,500 estates would be subject to taxation under the plan.  This would generate an estimated $11.2 billion in revenue.

Currently under the law more than 44,000 estates would be taxed.  This, estimates say, would generate $34 billion in taxes. This is money that we believe the government is not entitled to take. 

The Democrats objection is that more than 40,000 estates valued at $1 million and $10 million per couple, would not pay inheritance taxes at all.

We have a problem with any Inheritance or Estate Taxes. 

An inheritance tax, takes money from those who are labeled rich, and supposedly distributes it to the poor in the form of entitlement and other social programs.  This Robin Hood mentality worked during feudal times when the poor did not enjoy the ability to be upwardly mobile as we do today. Why single out the rich?  Have they not paid enough taxes on their money already?  Do we have to take it from their inheritors once they are dead?  We think not!

Since many Democrats, (Nancy Pelosi comes to mind,)  are in the category that fits the definition of "rich", or wealthy, we can only surmise that they, with the aid of their attorney friends and supporters, have found loopholes to get around paying it. We simply  can't imagine that their socialist beliefs extend to the point that they will cheat their own children out of their full inheritance. They are very adept at spending others' money, but we are not overly impressed by their generosity or their philanthropy.


The proposed inheritance taxes will adversely affect much of American life, and the property clauses are devastating, especially to farmers and ranchers. Why should a man or woman work doggedly, intensely, hard, to build up an estate not only for their own comfort, but to leave to their offspring, be taxed over 50% of their estate when they die?


We don't know if you saw Megyn Kelly's interview with NY Congressman Anthony Weiner, so we'd like to bring it to you





Weiner lived up to his name. He was belligerent, condescending and rude. It was indeed social conduct unbecoming a member of Congress let alone a gentleman.


Who do these people think they are that they believe they have the authority to bilk a person's estate and deny the person's descendants to profit from the fruit of his labor? They are elected to protect our interests, not to take them away.


Not all wealth is inherited wealth as Democrats seem to think. Take for instance the man who was born to a poor family and was left an orphan. He was raised by relatives. After high school  he took a short course at a small Business College. By the time he died he left a sizable estate which went to his wife. He worked for the Soil Conservation service, he farmed, and he invested in the stock market. No one ever gave him anything, certainly not the U.S. Government. What he had at the time of his death he'd earned by the sweat of his brow and his uncanny business acumen. He also managed to invest his money in ways that the government couldn't touch it upon his death. What right did the government have to share and distribute what he had already paid taxes on? It was money he'd designated to care for him and his wife, to be self sufficient in their later years, and not be a burden on their children. He died at 78. His wife lived to be 92 years old, and as he'd planned and wished, she lived in comfort and with excellent care because he'd provided well for her. Had he not been so intelligent, inheritance taxes even back then would have been damaging.


Now those greedy Democrats in Washington want to take even more so they can "distribute the wealth". If that isn't communism, I don't know what is.

There is the case of the Italian immigrant who came to the U.S. with nothing, and has amassed quite an estate. A brick layer by profession, he worked twice as hard as others. While many slept during a snowstorm, he attached a snow plow to his truck and spent the early mornings clearing off driveways. He never passed up a job.  As the hard labor ravaged his body, he built his wife their dream home, gave his two children a solid education and formed his own construction company. He worked for everything he has. He paid his taxes without fail, including outrageously obscene property taxes, and now some pencil head in D.C. wants to take it all away when he dies?


For those who are not quite clear on inheritance taxes, here is a definition that might clarify it:


•Inheritance tax is collected from the individual who inherited money or property from a deceased person. Estate tax, on the other hand, is imposed on the fair market value of the estate, and it is due from the estate itself. The value of the estate is determined through the appraisal process, and it is common for the beneficiary to use estate holdings to settle the tax liability on the estate. While estate taxes are taxes imposed by the state on the gross appraised value of the entire estate, inheritance taxes are assessed on the actual portion of the net estate distributed to the beneficiary.


Inheritance taxes are unfair. They kill capitalism. It is not an equitable tax., instead it punishes those with the ambition and the drive to better their lives and provide a better future for their children.


Dr. Frank Luntz and political analyst  Doug Schoen, .have explored the question of fairness in regards to inheritance taxes.  Here are their findings

When it comes to taxes, nothing matters more to Democrats than the guiding principle of “fairness.” True, people in general tend to like the taxes that don’t affect them personally and dislike the taxes that they themselves have to pay. But fairness is the Number One tax principle among Democrats, more than the next three responses (“consistency,” “simplicity” and “progressiveness”) combined.  But there are some taxes that individuals know they will never face and yet they oppose them anyway. Even to Democrats, some taxes are just plain unfair. Several times over the past decade we have examined the perceived fairness of most of the taxes paid by Americans today.  We asked Americans whether each tax was completely fair, somewhat fair, somewhat unfair or completely unfair. We gave Iowa and New Hampshire Democrats 15 different forms of taxation and asked them to indicate whether they were fair or unfair.  The “Death Tax” was considered the most unfair form of taxation, and when labeled the “Inheritance Tax,” the ratio against the fairness of this tax is a sizable 3 to 1 – making it the fourth most unpopular tax.
 
Another illustration of the unfairness of the inheritance tax is the professional who spends years in school and pays a small fortune in tuition fees for undergraduate and graduate school. The purpose is to get an education and engage in a profession that earns him/her a good living. Not only do they have to work hard to payback the student loans, but they have to invest money in their business, they create jobs by employing others. They pay tax after tax, and at death they will be taxed again?
 
What has separated us from other countries, and made us the most powerful nation in the world has been our system of capitalism.  The simplest definition of capitalism is that is is an economic system based on private ownership of capital.   Private ownership--not government ownership.
 
When  Americans see government become bigger and more intrusive in their lives, they are alarmed.  A nation born out of a capitalist system of private ownership and private enterprise is not comfortable with Socialist and Communist ideology.  This notion of an egalitarian system goes against the grain of all that we have been raised to believe.  When a people become accustomed to the government redistributing the wealth, it kills the drive and the ambition for the individual  to succeed. It creates a system of people dependent on the government hand out, and worst of all, it taxes success and hard work. Is it a wonder that doctors are leaving practice, and people are taking early retirement?
 
We are aware that there are those in our country who would prefer to live in the "nanny state", but we cant allow those people to have their way.  If we work and study arduously in order to achieve a certain measure of success and prosperity, not just for ourselves but for our children and grandchildren, we deeply resent the government's grabbing hands taking the proceed of our sacrifices from our inheritors.
 

Michael G. "Mike" Fitzpatrick  is the U.S. Representative- elect for Pennsylvania's 8th congressional district said about these taxes:  "The estate tax punishes years of hard work and robs families of part of their heritage by imposing a huge penalty on inheritance after death - a tax on money that has already been taxed."   

We couldn't agree more.